PARLIAMENT of WESTERN AUSTRALIA Legislative Council
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PARLIAMENT OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA HON DEXTER DAVIES, MLC Condolence Motion Legislative Council Wednesday, 18 May 2018 Reprinted from Hansard Legislative Council Wednesday, 16 May 2018 ____________ DEXTER MELVYN DAVIES Condolence Motion HON SUE ELLERY (South Metropolitan — Leader of the House) [1.02 pm] — without notice: I move — That this house expresses its deep regret at the death of Hon Dexter Davies, a former member of the Legislative Council for the Agricultural Region, places on record its appreciation for his long public service and tenders its profound sympathy to members of his family in their bereavement. I did not have the privilege of working with Dexter Davies in Parliament. I was elected in the same election that saw him finish his term as a member; however, like all in this chamber, I am very much aware of the widespread respect and admiration that everyone has for his long service to regional communities and Western Australia more broadly. I will talk a little more about his time in Parliament, but first just some simple biographical information. Dexter was born on 10 April 1951, and passed away on 17 March 2018 aged 66—just short of his sixty-seventh birthday. This was far too young, and I can only imagine the feelings of loss that Dexter’s family, friends and colleagues, who are here with us today, are feeling. Dexter was born in Kellerberrin and attended Yorkrakine Primary School. He mentioned in his valedictory speech that this was near my colleague, mentor and now late Hon Kim Chance’s old primary school at Doodlakine. Dexter said that his and Kim’s schools would sometimes combine so that they had enough players to form sporting teams to take part in sports carnivals. Dexter married his wife, Leonie—who I met just today—in January 1972, a few months short of his twenty-first birthday and about a year before his started studying for his degree as an accountant at what was then the Western Australian Institute of Technology; what we now know as Curtin University. He was working on that degree while he was working as a trainee and then assistant accountant. Having been an accountant with Wesfarmers for a number of years, Dexter farmed in Yorkrakine before coming to the Legislative Council. I am sure that many members of this place who we will hear from today—particularly those from the National Party— will give us a greater insight into his life outside Parliament. Dexter Davies was a member of the Legislative Council for a relatively short period of time, but we will hear from members that his parliamentary service was only a small part of his influence on politics, his contribution to the agricultural industry and to the Agricultural Region. Elected on 11 August 1998 as a result of the resignation of Hon Eric Charlton, who is here with us today, the newspaper reports at the time noted how well respected he was, saying, according to my notes — Mr Davies is well regarded by both sides of politics, and has been touted as a possible leader of the party when Hendy Cowan retires. Hendy is here with us today as well. We can understand why he was regarded as possible parliamentary leadership material, having been National Party president between 1990 and 1998, and then again in 1999 and 2000. He also served as the federal National Party vice-president from 1989 to 1998. I understand from former Labor members who were here at the time that Hon Kim Chance was a welcoming presence to Hon Dexter Davies. I gather that there was a strong informal farmers’ fraternity, if I can be impudent enough to call it that, amongst the members in this place at that time, and a key point of connection was Kim and Dexter’s shared history in the Farmers Union of Western Australia, as the Western Australian Farmers Federation was known in those early days. I understand there was a sense of collegiate spirit amongst the farmers in the chamber, regardless of the political side of the fence they sat on. Certainly inside the Labor Party Kim was known as part of the “brown left”, representing the colour of the earth, and good working relationships were formed. Sadly, those two influential former farming members of Parliament are now no longer with us. Despite his short term as a member of Parliament Hon Dexter Davies worked hard when he was here, having membership on two parliamentary standing committees: the Standing Committee on Public Administration and the Standing Committee on Ecologically Sustainable Development. Those committees covered a number of issues of importance to regional Western Australia, including forestry and fisheries issues. As Minister for Education and Training I was especially interested to read about Hon Dexter Davies’ long-time interest in education, from his work on his local P&C associations, including five years as president of the Wyalkatchem District High School P&C, and his work on the state council of the Western Australian Council of State School Organisations. He was also on the Moore district education advisory board, and chair of the C.Y. O’Connor TAFE advisory board. Reprinted from Hansard 2 He brought that interest into Parliament, especially when the School Education Bill 1997 came before the Legislative Council. This major bill provided a new legislative and administrative framework for the operation of government schools. Only a few months after he entered Parliament he made a contribution to the debate on that bill, and as all members now know it can take a while to find our feet so contributing to an important bill like that was quite a milestone early on in a parliamentary career. He touched on a number of issues during that speech, including the need to respect and not stifle teachers’ professional ability, fines for parents who failed to send their children to school, the conundrum of financially vulnerable parents becoming more so under the weight of fines leading to further non-attendance, and fees paid by parents to schools. On this last issue he talked about the importance of parental involvement in education, and his words are worth quoting. He said — Of course, there is a degree of involvement at school level, and that participation enhances the level of education that children receive. It is not simply a matter of a person collecting little Johnny from the school and everything else is up to the school. That involvement at the P & C level, the involvement of paying fees and being involved in the education process, is real, and it works. Hon Dexter Davies’ contribution on that important education bill early in his parliamentary career was bookended in November 2000, in the last days of the thirty-fifth Parliament, by a speech he made on a smaller but still important bill—the Medical Amendment Bill 2000. This bill facilitated the registration of overseas-trained doctors to allow them to practice in regional areas in Western Australia, and he once again had wise words to share. He praised the efforts of the WA Centre for Rural and Remote Medicine for its input into the bill but, more generally, he said — They face an enormous task, and they are trying to satisfy a need that probably can never be satisfied, because our society, with its high standard of living, expects to have the perfect solution to every medical problem. The cost of meeting that expectation is enormous, and in regional areas that expectation is probably as unrealistic as is trying to provide a university education in every country town. However, we need to provide the best that we can, and enormous steps are being taken to achieve that end. I have not touched on Dexter’s career after Parliament, in which he was as active as he had been his whole life in promoting agribusiness and the regions generally. Politically, he continued to be actively engaged and influential. I have also not touched on his brief career as a player at East Fremantle Football Club, probably because I am a Subiaco supporter. It comprised just three seasons and a handful of games, but he managed to kick a goal or two every season. From all that I have heard, although it was way too short, on the measures we would all want to judge the value of a life: Was he loved and did he love well? Tick. Did he mentor and lead? Tick. Did he treat those around him with respect? Tick. Did he tread lightly on the land and the earth? Tick. Did he appreciate the joy of laughter often? Tick. Were others proud to know him? Tick. Did those who came after him aspire to be like him? Tick. On all these measures, it was a life well lived. On behalf of the government, I express my sincere condolences to Leonie, Mia, Emma and their families, the broader National Party family and all of your friends for your very sad loss. HON JACQUI BOYDELL (Mining and Pastoral — Deputy Leader of the Nationals WA) [1.12 pm]: It is a great privilege for the house to bestow a condolence motion on a former member and it is fantastic for me to be able to be here today and contribute to this motion. It is a great privilege to stand here today and honour a great man—a great friend of the National Party and a great friend of many members here today. He lived life to the fullest and gave so much to his family, the National Party, his friends, colleagues and regional Western Australia.